The Best Present Ever
by Kimmo Pronger
Summary: A special birthday-theme Fanfiction that I'm dedicated to a certain somebody. Happy birthday. Athena has a dream about her earring and when she wakes up from it, the best birthday present of her life gets presented to her.


_In a small room that was alit with a single bright light on the ceiling, there were children's toys scattered all over the floor. A little petite girl with orange-brown hair was fumbling with a small ball in her miniscule hands. She was the princess of her tower and she was currently in her throne room. The throne itself was top of the slide and what made it fun was that she can slide herself down on it as well._

 _Yes, it seemed like every child's fantasy. To be loved by every adult, have your own spacious room with toys to play with all day, and even your own prince._

 _Her time with her ball would be interrupted when a small knock sounded on the door._

 _"You can come in!" The little girl called out towards the door._

 _She looked at the door as it slid open to see that it was her mother, of all people that was visiting her. The girl was slightly surprised. She hardly ever visited her, so for her to be doing this must mean that she finally has free time to spend with her little child._

 _The mother gently walked to her and then knelt down to her level. She gently patted and rubbed her on top of the head as she asked in a very serene tone, "How are you doing, dear?"_

 _"I-uh, I'm good, Mom!" The girl shyly said. She always felt awkward about talking to her mother. "Uh, Mommy? Why aren't you at work?"_

 _The mother giggled at her daughter and asked with that same serene tone, "It's your birthday, isn't it? Mommy has a present for you."_

 _The little girl gasped as she felt her cheeks light up. "Y-You do, Mommy?!"_

 _The mother nodded to herself as she took out from her pocket, a small case that's meant to store a small piece of jewelry. The girl asked in her mind if she was going to get a diamond ring for her birthday. She noticed that the little box was bright yellow, almost like the shirt she was wearing. Slowly with her tiny hands, she delicately took the box from her mother._

 _She opens the box and found that it was…a single earring whose most noticeable features were the crescent moon shape and the bright yellow color. "Ooh! It's an earring! But wait… There's only one?"_

 _The mother smiled at the little girl and told her, "That's because there's nothing else like it in the world, dear. I made this myself out of a very special rock from the moon, and I want you to have it."_

 _The little girl felt like a true princess. She was being bestowed a relic that only she can claim to own that nobody else could have. The girl realized she would be special with that earring on. The thought of being special made her very excited. "Y-You're being serious!? Y-You really made this out of a rock from the moon and now you're giving this to me!? Th-This is so cool! Thanks, Mommy! B-But wait, a rock from the moon? Didn't you say to me before that you were studying a rock like that? Don't tell me it's that same rock!"_

 _The mother giggled at her daughter's worry for her and softly rubbed the top of her head again. "Yes, but there's hardly any time for me to spend with you, sweetheart. I wanted to give you something so that it'll always feel like I'm watching over you as you play. Think of this moment and me as you wear that earring, alright?"_

 _The little girl gave out a playful salute to her mother. "Yes! I will! At all costs, I will! I will never-ever forget this moment!"_

 _The mother looked up at a wall-mounted clock that was behind her and her look suddenly became serious. "…Mommy has to go now, darling. You be a good girl, now."_

 _"B-But you just got here, Mommy! I thought we were going to play!?" The little girl cried out, feeling heartbroken._

 _The mother stood up to be a towering figure once again to her little daughter. "I'm sorry about this, Athena, but this is work only I can do. I…I must go…"_

 _"Wait!" The little girl named Athena ran up to her mother and tugged one of her sleeves. "You're sad! I can tell that you're sad! I can tell that you don't want to leave, Mommy! So please stay with me if it'll make you happy! Please!"_

 _Seeing that begging look on her daughter's eyes made her want to stay with Athena forever at her side, but she couldn't let her emotions get to her. Not when she had a mission, a mission that Athena, at her current age, would never understand. "I'll get Simon to play with you."_

 _"No! I want to play with you!" She shouted back with tears falling down her cheeks._

 _"That is enough!" The mother yanked her sleeve away from Athena to get her grip off of it. "Athena, remember to think of me when you wear that earring, okay? Even if you'll hate me…just look and feel for that earring…"_

 _Before Athena could reply, the mother walked out of the room in a quick pace. She felt like she couldn't stop her torrent of tears. She saw the yellow case that contained the earring on the floor, where she dropped it when she went after her mother. Athena slowly picked it up and opened the box again, where she saw the earring that her mother gave her._

 _There was nothing else like it in the world, she wanted her to have it, but there was work she must do and the work might cause her to hate her? She had trouble putting one and two together when it came to this. She felt something of a blockade in her brain that grew bigger the more Athena tried to make sense of it._

 _What did her mother mean…?_

* * *

 **Present Day**

Athena, now an adult, rose out of bed in a sweat. She realized she had a dream about a very familiar memory. It's a memory about how her as a child, couldn't entirely understood what her mother meant but now that she could think logically, she finally knew.

She glanced over at the nightstand to see the same earring that her mother gave her laying there along with the Widget necklace. Those were the only two things left of her mother.

A few soft knocks came on her bedroom door. "Athena? Are you awake?"

That voice, it was her childhood friend, Simon Blackquill. Her head naturally turned to the door, where Simon's voice came from. "It's okay. You can come in," her voice weakly sounded.

Slowly, the door opened to see Simon enter the room, looking serious as he always did, whether he was in court or not. He may be her rival in the courtroom but outside of it, he was someone close to her heart.

As he walked closer, he abruptly stopped and his eyes widened. "A-Athena? Did you have a nightmare?"

"N-No… Why?"

"…You have tears rolling down your face, or did you not realize it?"

She felt embarrassed about it. Athena really didn't realize that her face had tears. She was wondering if her tears followed her from her dream. Suddenly, she remembered her mother mentioning his name to her. She had no idea why but Athena felt a compelling need to tell Simon about it, "S-Simon… I had a dream about my mother."

His mentor? Simon took a moment to go next to her bedside and kneel down to be at eye level with her. "Yes?"

Athena took a moment to gather herself before explaining. "I… I dreamt about the time she gave me the earring. I…I didn't understand it at the time but maybe you know. She gave me that earring and I could feel like she didn't want to go away from me but had to anyway. She said that it involved work only she could do. …Do you have any idea what it was?"

Simon looked down at the floor, knowing how serious she was despite breaks in her voice. He couldn't bear to look at her directly in the eye out of fear he'll cry as well from seeing her emotional face. "…Your mother was a woman who was truly devoted to her child. She knew the consequences that the result of her work might bring."

"It was those headphones, wasn't it?" Athena asked.

"Yes…" Simon answered without looking up from the floor. "…She knew what effects it would have on you, both physically and emotionally. She knew that you'd feel as though you were being used as an experimental guinea pig. She never once blamed you for not being able to understand, at the time, what she was doing and what the culmination of her research would bring. Everything she has done right up until the day she died was all for you."

It made Athena clench her jaw. She was only a kid and yet…she couldn't help but have a sense of blame for what had happened the day she died. "…Simon, I know she'll never be able to hear me from up there but… I'm so sorry for everything, Simon. I lost my mother and I nearly lost you, too. You nearly threw your own life away for me. I wasn't going to let that happen, and that's why I came back. I'd rather join my mother rather than let you die in my place."

"Enough," he sternly said. He lifted his head with his eyes visible that stared daggers into Athena. "…What's past is past. What matters is here and now. And do you know what it is today?"

Athena averted her gaze from Simon for a moment. "…No." Then, it struck her. "O-Oh! It's-"

Simon nodded. "Yes. Today is your birthday, Athena. …And while it is not much, I have a birthday present for you."

Simon took out a small box from his pocket that was colored black. He slowly lent it with one hand to Athena, which she gently took with both her hands. Athena opened the box and what she saw made her gasp and almost made her eyes popped out of their sockets.

What was inside…was none other than a bright, shiny earring that was colored yellow whose design was shaped just like a crescent moon. Just like the one her mother gave her all those years ago.

"S-Simon! Y-You didn't!"

Simon lowered his gaze to the floor once again. "Yes I did, Athena. For too long, I thought you were incomplete with only one of those earrings. I made special, yet tedious, arrangements to duplicate the design that your mother had on your first earring. She made that to symbolize the tremendous amount of love she had for you. I had this earring made to symbolize the undying loyalty to my duty to protect with my life…my mentor's most beloved treasure. Now you have two symbols from two different people that symbolize their undying love for you that you can wear on both your ears now." He lifted his face to face Athena who was looking straight at him with pure surprise, shock, and bewilderment. "…So with that being said, Happy Birthday, Athena Cykes."

Another torrent of tears started to wash over her face. "I…I can't… It's… It's…" With her both her hands, she pulled Simon into her (the latter didn't resist), and held him tight in her arms while feeling overweening joy and happiness. "It's perfect, Simon… Th-Thank you…"

Simon felt the warmness of Athena's embrace overtake him. He closed his eyes, smiled, and softly returned her tight hug.

"My pleasure, Athena, and it always was… Happy Birthday…"


End file.
